AFRICA: Boko Haram militants carried out their first attack inside Chad, killing five people in an early morning strike on a village and military camp.

AMERICAS: The US Senate voted to confirm Ashton Carter as President Obama’s next Secretary of Defense.

ASIA: Clashes between the Burmese military and ethnic Kokang rebels near the Chinese border left at least 47 government soldiers dead and 73 wounded.

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TECHNOLOGY: US President Obama is expected to announce an executive order directing the government and companies to share more information about cybersecurity threats.

TOP STORY

Pakistan: Taliban launch attack on Peshawar mosque.

Taliban militants stormed a Shiite mosque in Peshawar in an attack that left at least 18 people dead and 50 wounded.

Police chief Mian Saeed said the militants stormed the mosque wearing suicide vests but only one attacker managed to detonate his.

The military and Afghan forces had recently captured several of the Taliban militants who orchestrated the attack on a Peshawar school in December that killed 150 people.

In a phone conversation the previous day US President Obama spoke with PM Sharif and “welcomed the improved relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and noted appreciation for Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorism.”

Indian PM Modi said that India is sending its top foreign ministry official to Pakistan to resume talks after a six-month hiatus.